Hunter's Bounty (Veller)

by Spoor, Garry

  “Kile stop.”

  Erin Silvia stood before her on the rooftop, her sword in her hand.

  “I can’t.” She replied catching her breath.

  “Kile please, I don’t want to hurt you. Come with me and we can sort all this out.”

  “Can you honestly say you believe that?”

  “Yes I believe that.”

  She shook her head as she drew the thin blade of the lann from the makeshift sheath. “Then I’m afraid I can’t trust you either.” She said as she tightened her grip on her blade.

  “I don’t want to fight you.” Erin said as she took a step forward.

  “That’s good.” Kile replied. “I don’t want to fight you either.”

  There was no way she could win a fight against Erin Silvia, the best she could do was hold her own until she found an opening to escape, but that didn’t really seem likely under the circumstances.

  “Then come with me, explain your case to the council.”

  “I can’t do that.” She said as she started to back away, although there wasn’t much to back away to. “I have no case. They’ll never believe me, and that's assuming I live long enough to even try to explain it. Just let me go, let me find out who’s behind this and why.”

  “You know I can’t do that. You’re an open bounty Kile, I’ve been charged with brining you in.”

  “Then you’ll have to kill me first.”

  “Don’t make me do this.”

  “I’m not making you do anything Erin, what you do now is your choice.”

  Erin never made the choice as the sky grew dark and the moon was blocked out by hundreds of leathery wings as they descended from above. She dropped her sword and covered her head as the bats flew circles around her and when they departed, Kile was gone.

  ***

  Kile didn’t go very far, she dropped down through one of the holes in the roof to the room below, and then made her way to the first floor. From there she climbed out the window onto a lower roof and dropped back into the alley. The bats were keeping the Hunter’s occupied, so they never saw her leave Quinton Street. Keeping to the shadows she emerged onto a parallel street with the ironic name of Hunter’s Way.

  The street was a little more occupied, with a few people hanging out around the outside of buildings that didn’t look as if anyone should be living in them. Littenbeck was supposed to be one of the fairest cities in all of Aru, and yet there were still vir living in conditions that most animals would object to.

  As she moved closer to the center of the city, the number of civilians increased. She had to force herself to walk, so as not to bring attention to herself. She stopped a few times to get her bearings, sniffing at the air and hoping that nobody took much notice in her, but since she was a girl in a light green frilly shirt, it was hard to go unnoticed.

  She couldn’t smell Grey or Erin for that matter, but then this scent thing was still kind of new to her and the smells around the city were too numerous and some even too disgusting to try to distinguish. When she was sure she wasn’t being followed, she stopped at a green vender who was just packing up his wares for the night. She handed the man a few coins for a couple of apples before proceeding deeper into the city.

  It was slow going, keeping to the more populated areas and out of sight of the city watch. When she finally did reach the old stables that Grim was, she didn't approach, instead she stopped in the alley across the street. There didn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary, but that was the problem, it didn’t feel right. It could just be her paranoia acting up again, but under the circumstances, she was willing to listen to it.

  There were two men looking through a darkened store window on the far side of the street, two more men sitting on a park bench further down, they weren’t talking to one another, they were just sitting there. Even further down there was a man leaning up against one of the lamp posts, if he didn’t look suspicious, none of them did. Then, of course, the fact that there were no women hanging out with these men at night made it even more doubtful. Just another reason why there should be more female Hunters. Kile receded back into the shadows of the alley.

  -We go now?-

  Vesper asked.

  “Unfortunately we can’t, not right now. Not with all these Hunters around.” Kile replied as she leaned against the wall and finished off her apple.

  -Hunters?-

  “Yeah, I’m afraid so. They must have found Grim. My guess it the vir at the stables must have recognized me.” She said as she looked to the roof tops. “There’s no telling how many are watching this place. I’d probably get shot the second I leave the alley.”

  She lifted Vesper out of her pouch and set him down on the sidewalk.

  “It’s up to you now Vesper. You have to get in there and get Grim out. I’ll try to lead them away from the stables.”

  -Vesper get Grim.-

  The yarrow said as he took off across the street. He went unnoticed by the Hunter as he disappeared through a small hole in the side of the stables. It didn’t take long before Kile heard that familiar crash of Grim kicking open the stall doors. There was another loud crash, followed by some rather fluent cursing as a man stumbled out of the stables into the courtyard. The Hunters finally realized that something was wrong as they moved from their places of surveillance.

  As the Hunters converged onto the stables, Kile emerged from her hiding place in the shadows. With the apple core in hand she threw it at the back of the first Hunter’s head that she saw, at least she hoped it was a Hunter and she didn’t just assault an innocent civilian.

  The man shouted as he spun around in the streets.

  Kile just waved to him as she ran off in the opposite direction.

  “She’s over there.”

  “No she’s not, she’s in there.”

  There was a decent amount of confusion as to whether or not Kile was who she appeared to be, but a few Hunters did take up the pursuit as she turned down one of the side roads, the last thing she heard was the stable doors, and possibly the entire stables, crashing down.

  She had attempted to make a short circle through the streets and meet up with Grim, but it was no use, not only were the Hunters after her, but it would appear that the city guard had been alerted to her presence as armored men blocked the side streets. She slid to a stop and scrambled to change direction as the watch gave pursuit.

  “This was not one of my best ideas.” She said as she tried turning down yet another street, but this one had been blocked as well.

  Her only option now was to take an alternate route as she pushed past a shop owner who was just starting to close up for the night.

  “You can’t come in here.” He shouted, although he made no attempt to stop her.

  “Sorry.” She called out as she ran through the shop and into the back room.

  “Are you kidding me? I pick the only shop in Littenbeck without an alley exit?” She shouted as she slammed her hands against the wall. She quickly turned around and ran back into the showroom. She could already see the guards coming up the street through the shop’s window.

  “Get out, you can’t be in here, I’m closed. Leave now or I’ll call for the watch.” The shop owner yelled as she ran past him again.

  “Too late, they’re already on their way.” She replied as she took the stairs up to the second floor. She excused herself as she slipped past and older woman, probably the shop owner's wife and into one of the bedrooms. Pulling open the dormer windows, she crawled out onto the shop’s rather steep roof. She could already hear the sound of men on the second floor as she climbed to the peak.

  Something barely missed her head as it struck the clay tiles beside her and slid harmlessly down to the street below. Of course there were bowmen on the opposite side of the street. Why wouldn’t there be?

  Scrambling up the sloped roof as quickly as she could and sliding down the other side before another shot bounced off the tiles, she jumped the narrow alley to a flat roofed building.
She could already hear the whistles that called to the city watch. By now it felt as if half the city was after her.

  There was no turning back now as she ran across the rooftops, trying to stay ahead of the Hunters. The noises at the street level caught her attention and she stopped when she saw a large black horse barreling down the streets with four mounted guards closing in on him.

  “Grim. South Gate.” She shouted as the Mountain Pony pasted just below her.

  She didn’t wait to see if he heard. Her own pursuers were getting too close.

  The next building was a good distance away, but she didn’t hesitate as she jumped the span, landing hard on the opposite side. She knew the pursuing Hunters couldn’t make that jump, she wasn’t even sure why she was able to make that jump, but she used the time to catch her breath.

  One of her pursuers sought an alternate route, but the second hunters started to walk across the gap over an unseen bridge. It was an impressive trick, one that she wished she knew, but she wasn’t going to wait around and ask him to teach it to her.

  “Let’s see him try this one.” She said as she jumped the street to the next building. It was a lot further than she had estimated and she barely made it, landing on the very edge of the wall. She had to throw herself forward, rolling hard across the roof’s surface before getting to her feet. It was an impossible jump, one that nobody should have been able to make. Even the Hunter with his wind walking edge wasn’t going to try it. He stood on the far side, shaking his head and staring in awe. She looked across the span, then down to the street below. By all accounts, that was where she should have landed, broken in the middle of the street.

  The city was now waking up, not because it wanted to, but because the guards were moving from house to shop, entering buildings in an attempt to get to the rooftops. Civilians were pouring out into the streets to see what all the commotion was about which only added to the confusion on the ground level. The sound of screaming caught her attention as people were diving for cover when a large, hairy black horse turned the corner and was making one final run for the Southern Gate.

  Kile jumped down to the lower buildings and ran along the edge of the awnings as she called out to Grim. The Mountain Pony slowed up just long enough for her to make one desperate leap off the edge and onto his back. It was not the most graceful maneuver as she landed with her feet on one side and her head on the other, the impact driving the air from her lungs, even Grim felt it as he cursed loudly. She had never known a horse to have as foul a mouth as the Mountain Pony.

  -Can we go now?-

  Grim asked.

  “Yeah, I think we outstayed our welcome.” Kile shouted as she tried to right herself on his back. They turned the last corner and the Southern Gate was now in their sights.

  Fortunately only the Lord of the city could order the gates closed, and it would appear that the watch hadn’t gotten that order as the gates remained open. The only thing standing between them and their freedom were the guards blocking the road, but only Kile saw them as an obstacle, Grim saw them as a target. The Mountain Pony never slowed as he barreled down on the men. Those that didn’t move out of the way fast enough were thrown aside by the Pony sprinted through the open gate.

  -Kile… Friends-

  Vesper called out from his place between Grim’s ears.

  The bats hadn’t abandoned her yet, as swarms of the flying vermin kept the men on the gates busy, now the only thing left were the riders still in pursuit. Although she would have preferred to ask the horses not to follow her, and she was sure that they would have listened, the guards on top of them may not be as understating.

  Kile turned around on Grim’s back to face her pursuers. Blocking out the thunderous sound of the Mountain Pony’s hoofs, she reached out to them with the Maligar. The thick strands of her edge stretched out across the distance to merge with the Guard’s mounts. Instantly she was linked with them and could actually see herself riding away from herself. She didn’t try to reason it out, or to prolong the strain, she just left them one command before she broke the connection. Snapping back to her own reality was the worse part as it usually left her dazed, and she almost fell off Grim’s back as he charged down the road, but she managed to hold on and watched as the horses started to return to the city, much to the confusion of their riders.

  ***~~~***

  12

  “You let her get away.”

  Andrew Drain slammed his hands on his desk, knocking off a few books and a small wooden box that spilled its contents on the floor. Grey stooped to pick it up, but one look from Drain and he thought better of it.

  “A Level one Hunter and you can’t bring me one child… a little girl.” He shouted as he brushed back what little hair he had.

  Andrew Drain was a round, vain man who fought against aging every step of the way. He wore a girdle under his fine silk clothing, dyed his hair with coal oil and combed it in creative ways to cover the fact that he had very little of it. None of it actually worked, and now he only looked older as he dropped back into his chair, burying his face in his hands.

  “We ran into a little… bad luck sir.” Grey remarked, although with his nose bandaged up, he didn’t sound very convincing.

  Drain looked up from between his fingers. “Bad luck?” He repeated. “You had a little bad luck?”

  “Well… yes sir. We had her surrounded, we were closing in but… well sir… the bats.”

  “Bat?”

  “Yes sir, it would appear that my men ran into a nest of… bats.”

  “Bats, so you’re saying bats stopped you from capturing her?”

  “Well… no, not exactly sir… they just…”

  “They just what? Did they carry her off? Did they cover for her? Maybe the deliberately helped her to escape, that’s it, isn’t it Grey, The bats actually helped her escape is that what you telling me.”

  “Well… it kind of seemed so.”

  “I give you three level one Hunters, two experienced trackers, six soldiers and you give me… bats.”

  Erin sat silently beside the door, watching the exchange. Although she enjoyed seeing Grey chews out by Drain, she couldn’t help but think that the old man might be on the right track. How else could she explain where the bats came from, or why they attacked her on the rooftop, okay, maybe attack is a strong word, they didn’t do any harm, they just interfered. She had never heard of anyone being able to summon bats as a defense before but there had been rumors of certain Hunters that had unusual or unique edges. They had often been referred to as freaks. Was Kile one of these freaks? Then again the jump she made across the alley could have been a type of wind walking art, although Erin never saw her actually use the edge. The more she thought about it, the more question it rose.

  “Certified level one Hunter Erin Silvia.”

  Erin looked up to see Drain staring at her. She quickly got to her feet and stood beside Gray who seemed relieved that Drain had another target to aim his frustrations at.

  “Sorry Councilman Drain.” Erin replied.

  “Am I to believe that you are after the fugitive Kile Veller as well?” He asked, although it was clear by the tone that he already knew the answer.

  “Yes sir, I was appointed the task of bringing her in.”

  “By whom?”

  Again, he already knew the answer.

  “Guild Master Latherby.”

  “I see.” Drain replied.

  She was grateful to see that the name of Latherby still held a little power in the council room as Drain’s temperament subsided, although it wasn’t all that much.

  “So, Guild Master Lathery has appointed you to bring in Veller?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “What success have you had?”

  Prudence was necessary at this point. Although Drain couldn’t reside over Kile’s hearing, should it get that far, he would still hold sway over the council. That meant that any evidence that Erin revealed at this point could be manipulated against her.


  “Well sir, we tracked her to Coopervill, but a clumsy attempt by a couple of overzealous Hunter to bring her in resulted in her fleeing before we got there. We continued our investigations which lead us back to Littenbeck, but our assistance was denied, and it would appear that she had gotten away again.”

  “I see.” Drain calmly replied as his eyes shifted over to Grey. “Do you know where she could be heading now?”

  “I’m afraid not sir. The guards that pursued her outside the wall returned… unexpectedly.”

  “Why was that?”

  Although she wanted to tell him it was because the guard’s mounts had decided they wanted to return home, much to the guard’s embarrassment, she didn’t want to set the old man off again.

  “They did not say sir.”

  “So, this young girl has not only managed to elude some of the best Hunters, but the entire Littenbeck guard. How do you account for that Hunter Silvia?”

  “I have no explanation sir.”

  “It would seem to me, that at this junction, we should be pooling our resources. I wish to have Hunter Grey assist you in bringing in the fugitive Kile Veller.”

  “But sir, I don’t think that's necessary.” She objected.

  “Nonsense.” Drain replied with a wave of his hand as if he was doing her a favor. “I insist. Grey has an excellent retrieval record. He could be of great help to you in tracking down and apprehending this fugitive.”

  “Yes sir… of course sir.” She replied.

  Although she would prefer to be as far away from Grey as possible, she also knew that having him close meant she could keep an eye on him. His attempt to bring Kile in at the Tally house was too heavy handed. It appeared to be more of an extermination rather than an apprehension.

  “Then it’s settled.” Drain said, rubbing his hands together. “If you would wait outside Hunter Silvia, I have a personal matter that I must discuss with Hunter Grey.”